I'm attending a plein air workshop this summer. What are some things I should not forget to bring or do in preparation?

I will be painting outdoors/on-location for the first time in the coming weeks. I would like to make a couple of excursions before the workshop. I have a full-size French easel and bring it to a local class I take, so I have some experience in lugging this stuff around. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of things you might easily forget that could be life savers out there.

What about a box to transport wet oil panels? I'm guessing this would be a good investment, especially since it's a three-day workshop and we'll be staying in a beach house, still needing transport everything and anything back home. Any suggestions?

Hello Gizank, I think its just you and me here. I teach plein air courses every year and these are my recommendations.

A box to transport wet paintings is useful. That said, most good French easels will hold at least two wet paintings (as long as one side is the same size) and I find it rare that you have more than that in one session.

To carry lots of wet paintings home after a trip I make sure I have two of each size and tightly tape the wet paintings face to face with canvas keys or sliced cork between them at each of the four corners. I have to repaint the corners, but that's not a big deal. The small gap keeps the paintings from touching each other and it works for canvases or panels.

Things to not forget: A hat, sunblock, insect spray, a jacket (if you're near the coast, it can get cold with the wind or in the evenings) are essential. Painting is difficult enough when you're not distracted by the elements. Other than those, everything you normally use to paint with, nothing worse than realizing after an hour hike that you forgot your brushes.

The guy giving the workshop is, pretty much, my mentor as I bring the practice of art back into my life. So, I work frequently with him and will have time to pick his brain before I go.

I really like the tip about taping them face-to face with spacers. I didn't think about a setup like that.

Luckily, playing golf for the last several years has instilled a high awareness of environmental discomforts. Sunblock and bug spray will always be close at hand. :) We are going to be on the beach, so I'll be sure to bring a jacket!

I can't wait! After 13 years of hiding from art, (I was an illustration major back in the early '90's and had some horrible experiences that chased me out of the business,) I've spent the last two years really working on my drawing and trying to learn what I can about fine art/gallery art/whatever you want to call it, art and aesthetic theory, and art after about 1870. It's really an esoteric subject when you come from years of commercial art training. I've got a good grip going on right now, though. I'm in the process of moving from my default thought being to grab a stick of charcoal and a chamois to it being grabbing a palette and brushes.

If I get what I'm hoping for out of plein air, I will definitely post something here.

Well, that's awkward. I commented on your blog about your reddit shirt a couple of weeks ago and didn't even realize I had already talked to you here.

I ended up making panel carriers out of foamcore and Gorilla tape (with a bit of this and a bit of that extra.)

Anyway, thanks for the advice. We had a great trip, and I got a couple of paintings I'm pleased with out of it. Here's the one I am most happy with, but it has been retouched since and the photo of the painting is awful.

I did this at home a few days later. It has also been improved a bit since I photographed it--mostly just edge adjustments.